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"I knew Rab Cru in the tiny roo "He was drained twenty years ago by the Coppers They put his head on a pike for killing a girl naled cry reverberated off the walls "Drained! Oh, Rab, htirl with the bob, her led moan turned into a shriek, and that ed and echoed in the blackness I i out, ready to explode My eardruh h her, illu so to the door, and so I shrieked louder Which wasn’t hard, because I was terrified I hadn’t feared the quiet ghost under the waves, but this thing was nasty

As the ghost expanded, her hands became claws, and her eyes sank back into empty black pools I was forced backward until I felt bones scraping against the heels of , couldn’t have stopped if I’d tried She loo in the back ofas a soul, and where hers was, and where h hostly screa of salty wind behind I blinked, and there was Crilove

"I think you kept your prooodness for clockworks and their lockpicks, eh? Let’s leave this place"

"Not yet," I said "Hold the door open"

I looked behind ht to see the sad, irl with a broken heart I reached out to smooth the black hair, and the jolt caht’s breeze

"My G-god," Ishe said was true But her betrothed was Jonah Goodwill himself, and Rab Cruainst your kind And against wo on a chain around his neck All of this, everything he’s done All of the horrors he co the white dress A wedding dress "Because he loved her, and she chose a Bludman instead of him"

"I didn’t think it was possible to hate hi out one of his reen silk "But I do"

As tenderly as I could, I wrapped the body in the cloth and picked it up Edging toward the railing, I threw it into the ocean

"You’re free," I said in benediction as I watched the bones clatter against the rocks

23

The city was in flames, and the docks were silent I was still in shock I was also half-naked and soaked through and starting to chafe with salt water Still, there was a lot I didn’t understand And I was in a hurry

"If the city’s on fire, why isn’t everyone running to the docks?" I asked "Boats are a better bet than the city gates, right?"

"Ah, but you don’t know the politics here Brighton is a city ruled by a few rich Pinkies Beneath them are the poor Pinkies, the servants, and the Bludmen ork in the factories The people have been oppressed for decades They’re not used to fighting or tactical thinking They probably didn’t plan very well"

"Still, even frole person," I said

"I have a theory," he said "But it’s not pretty"

I stopped walking to look at him He was troubled,quite good, you see The enius and subtlety Tell erous, barely restrained workers, ould you do with the workers? You can’t let thee"

I just stared at hi from deep within the city and said more softly, "Do you s that the people in charge locked up the workers and set them on fire?" I said, incredulous

"In the end, the winner rewrites history Call it a bloody revolution, become the heroes who made the city safe for innocent, harhton was lost in the workers’ riotous fla?"